£80m 'first' for Wimpey

HOUSEBUILDER George Wimpey is to be the first major private sector investor in the £600m Middlewood Locks development, the 27-acre site, claimed to be the biggest single urban regeneration project in Greater Manchester.

HOUSEBUILDER George Wimpey is to be the first major private sector investor in the £600m Middlewood Locks development, the 27-acre site, claimed to be the biggest single urban regeneration project in Greater Manchester.

The residential developer is submitting an application to develop the first phase of the scheme, which links the city of Manchester with Salford.

The Wimpey site includes three of the 14 parcels of land that make up the entire Middlewood Locks scheme. It borders Middlewood Street and Oldfield Road and will see 600 apartments built in three phases.

When complete, the residential development will have a market value of around £80m.

Peter Trusscott, MD of George Wimpey Manchester, said: "We are delighted to make an early investment in Middlewood Locks. The site is just 10 minutes from Deansgate and will offer a dynamic blend of work, recreation and living environments.

"We are confident the whole scheme will be a major success."

Simon Jenkins, director of Beaupré Castle Developments, joint venture partner on Middlewood Locks, says: "This is excellent news and a significant milestone in bringing to life the vision both we and Salford city have for this area.

"We are in advanced talks with other developers and inviting enquiries for further residential and commercial partners."

SnoWorld

The site, which had originally be tipped for a SnoWorld ski centre, is the work of joint developers, Valley and Vale Properties and Beaupré. They won outline planning permission in July 2003 for the scheme opposite the former Granada Studios.

It will consist of a new waterside commercial, retail and residential development. It allows the company planning applications for further parcels of land within the commercial core of the scheme, providing up to 140,000 sq m of floorspace.

A further planning application for some remaining parcels of commercial land within the masterplan is expected to follow, which would extend the consent up to 280,000 sq m.

Last autumn the developers completed the purchase of the 2-ha ManCentral Trading Estate. At they same time they completed an agreement, which sets out the route of and protects the land required for the canal, paving the way for the scheme.

It will involve re-opening a section of the historic Manchester to Bolton and Bury canal, including three locks.